Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)

I am glad all speakers welcome the principle of the legislation. The poor old peace commissioner vanished under the earlier Act and is being restored as part of this legislative measure. I share Deputy Rabbitte's view that my predecessor had enormous energy. He has an impressive legislative record and he put much fine legislation in place.

Deputies Ring and Rabbitte asked about the practical effect of this issue. It was brought to the notice of the Department on Thursday, 11 October by the Courts Service. The Department sought the advice of the Attorney General immediately and alerted the Irish Prison Service to the difficulty. On 15 October the Irish Prison Service was instructed to cease the arrangement whereby prison governors or designed prison officers took recognisances from prisoners. Following discussions between officials of my Department and the Courts Service and Irish Prison Service, it became clear the issue, if not addressed urgently, would create considerable logistical difficulties for both services. Furthermore, the Attorney General advised that the only solution was legislative. In view of this, I decided a short Bill should be prepared without delay. I obtained Cabinet approval earlier to publish the Bill and, subject to Oireachtas approval, for its earlier signature by the President. I arranged sufficient time for Members to table amendments and the Upper House will be free to consider the Bill and amendments tomorrow.

Deputy Rabbitte asked how the issue has impacted in practice on the courts and prisons. The practical effect of the difficulty addressed by the legislation is that all prisoners seeking to enter recognisances must be brought before a District Court judge. That has been the position since 15 October. This creates operational and logistical difficulties for the Irish Prison Service and has placed additional strain on the prison escort service. The Irish Prison Service is faced with difficulties regarding the availability of District Court judges, particularly at weekends, as Deputy Ring pointed out. In so far as the courts are concerned, I am advised that the impact has been minimal but, while these difficulties are manageable in the short term through the co-operative efforts of the Courts Service and the Irish Prison Service, it is not feasible to allow this to drag on. In view of the number of prisons involved — approximately 3,900 per year — the implications for the cost of the prison escort service in bringing prisoners to court, the potential for increased tensions in prisons due to the delays in releasing prisoners ready to enter recognisances early and the potential for an increased number of inquiries under Article 40 of the Constitution to the High Court, urgent legislative action is necessary and I am glad the Opposition has facilitated the passage of the legislation. On the issue of increased availability of judges, the Courts Service has made arrangements that will suffice in the short term until the legislation is enacted.

I refer to the wider issues raised in the debate. Every Minister is accountable and responsible to the House but, above and beyond that, in the consideration of legislation, it is important that Members are given time to consider the details and principles of proposals and to take soundings on them. It is not the function of the Ceann Comhairle to dictate to the Government how time is allocated. Under Standing Orders, this is something the Government proposes or decides and that this House disposes.

However, I accept the point made by Deputies Rabbitte, Flanagan and Ring that proper consideration should be given to legislation. A substantial proportion of the legislation that comes before the Houses originates in my Department. It can be as high as one third of the total amount of legislation. The Minister of this Department is in a unique position to observe the parliamentary process. I am not sure whether I am free to speak in general terms about that process. Nevertheless, I contend it is a remarkable fact that Seanad Éireann, which is the revising Chamber and viewed as such in our constitutional arrangements, seems to be able to dispose of legislation with dispatch. Members of that House are able to conduct a Second Stage debate that focuses on the principle of the legislation and to give Bills considerable reflection and suggested amendment, a significant amount of which is accepted by Ministers in the Chamber. Progress is made smoothly to Report Stage and to the enactment of the legislation or its submission to this House if it is initiated in Seanad Éireann.

Since Members have raised the legislative process, I observe that an inordinate amount of time is spent in this House on Second Stage in considering the general principle of legislation and that a significant number of the speeches made have no great purpose other than to fill a quota of parliamentary time or delay the exercise of legislative power by the House. This is something we must address on an all-party basis. I am not sure whether it originated in the practice of allocating rigid 20-minute slots to every Deputy. This proceeds on the assumption that every Bill is worth 20 minutes for each Deputy. In reality, some are worth in excess of that while others deserve far less. As Deputy Rabbitte reminded us, Committee and Report Stages are of particular importance in the detailed consideration of legislation. It is on those Stages that the type of legislative error we are addressing today tends to be discovered and corrected.

On the basis of the co-operation extended to me today, I will be conscious of the need, in proceedings in this House, to afford all Deputies the opportunity to consider legislation in detail. This is an important objective to which we should all subscribe.

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